Study objectives
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the severity and organ distribution of clinically significant transfusion related IO in a cohort of pediatric cancer patients that had an MRI completed for clinical concern of iron overload. Liver iron concentration (LIC) was measured and used as a surrogate marker for total body iron while measures of cardiac, pancreatic, and pituitary iron deposition were assessed and used as a surrogate marker for labile iron exposure. Secondary objectives were to (1) assess associations between cancer type and the level and distribution of IO; (2) assess associations between hepatic and/or pancreatic IO with pituitary and cardiac iron levels; (3) assess treatment and follow up in patients diagnosed with IO; and (4) assess the correlation between serum markers of IO and MRI-confirmed organ siderosis.